Local authorities in the Spanish island of La Palma said they've evacuated around 5,000 people in the wake of a volcano eruption on Sunday, after a weeklong buildup of seismic activity. No injuries have been reported, so far, but the flowing lava has already destroyed 100 homes as it moves towards the sea at 700 meters per hour. The 15-meter high lava flow has already swallowed 20 houses in the village of El Paso and sections of roads, Mayor Sergio Rodriguez told TVE radio station on Monday morning. It is now spreading through the neighboring village of Los Llanos de Aridane where hundreds of houses are at risk, he said. "We are monitoring the trajectory of the lava," Rodriguez said. Canary Islands government chief Ángel Víctor Torres told SER radio that the magmatic material has crept in two streams through a mostly unpopulated area. "We're not expecting any other eruption," he said, adding however that there will be "considerable damage", as the lava "will destroy everything it encounters". The Military Emergencies Unit is increasing its deployment on the island to 180 soldiers and 57 vehicles, backed up by three water-dropping aircraft due to arrive later on Monday. Experts however have warned the eruption could last for weeks or even months. On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez paid a visit to the affected areas, after he canceled his trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption shortly after 3 p.m. local time near the southern end of the island, which saw had seen its last eruption in 1971. Since erupting on Sunday afternoon, the volcano has shot lava up hundreds meters into the air and poured flows of molten rock towards the Atlantic Ocean over a sparsely populated area of La Palma, the most northwestern island in the Canaries archipelago. No fatalities were reported and none are likely to happen so long as no one behaves recklessly, volcanologist Nemesio Perez said on Monday. — Agencies
